Method for taking up the play of spikes



\ Nov. 19, 1940. A. P. sTRElT METHOD FOR TAKING `UP THE PLAY OF SPIKES Filed Nov. 30, 1957 Patented Nov. 1.9, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT oFlrIcE-j METHOD FOR TAKIN'G UP THE PLAY OF v SPIKES i.. I

Albert Paul Streit, Cachan., France',A i Application November so, 1937, serial m5171364 i 2 claims. (o1. zas- 373) Railway tracks are constituted by rails bearing upon wooden sleepers and kept in position by means of spikes hammered into holes provided in the wood of the sleepers. Due to the vibrations produced by the passage of trains, and to the alteration of the wood of the sleepers, and of the fastenings, these spikes will finally work loose, and they may escape,v so that the rails are no longer efdciently held in position, which may involve serious damages.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide a method of treating railway sleepers which increases the time of service of said railway sleepers and permits of re-employing old elements for the fixation of the rail.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of treating railway sleepers which permits of replacing square-shaped spikes by screw-threaded round spikes introduced in the holes precedingly occupied by said square spikes.

With these, and other, objects in View, according to an essential feature of the presentinvem tion I drive into the square hole which has acted as housing for a spike a helical lining of V-shaped section made of :a malleable metal, and I engage a rail fixation member into the hole thus lined.

Other features ofthe present invention will result from the following detailed description of some specific embodiments thereof.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described, with reference to the accompanying drawing, given merely by way of example, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a railway track showing the wooden sleeper, the rail, and the spike;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a spike;

Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a mandrel pro vided with a lining, for use according to the invention;

Fig. 5 is a view on an enlarged scale showing the lining inv cross-section;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a railway sleeper, illustrating a step of the method according to the invention, during which the new spike is screwed in the metal lining;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6; and i Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line 8 8 of Fig. 4.

As it iswell known, in a railway track, a rail l is kept in position on sleeper 2 by means of spikes 3, one of which is shown in perspective in Fig. 3.

Yof lining 1, as shown in dotted lines by Fig. 6.

Each spike, of square section, is driven into a hole 4 of circularsection,r made in-:advance in sleeper 2, until the` nose 5 `of the `spike is applied against the yflange 6 ofraill. i

After a time,'the spike has worked loose. I will now proceed to explain how I take up play, according to the present invention.A

rIhe loose spike is removed from itsv hole, if it has not already left it.. Into the hole, I :drive a helical lining l, this lining being wound on a 10 cylindrical surface, whereas the section of the hole is square. The lining has a V-shaped sec. tion and it is made of a malleable metal or alloy, rust-proof and having a high coefficient of elongation, for instance of annealed brass. 15

`Referring vto Fig. 5, it is visible that the branches of the V which constitute the lining are of a thickness which decreases toward the `ends 1b, in order to facilitate the insertion of the vouter diameter of the coil is 'larger than the length of the side of the square hole but smaller than the diagonal thereof.

As shown by Fig. 4, the `driving end of mandrel 30 9 is provided with an eye in which the corresponding end of coil l can be engaged vin a detachable manner so as to fix said coil' with respect to mandrel 9 during the screwing thereof.

When the lining has thus been itted on man- 35 drel 9 in the manner illustrated by.` Fig. 4, the whole of the mandrel and the lining coiled thereon is screwed intoi thevhole 4 provided in the wooden sleeper. i

The mandrel is then removed by unscrewing, which immediately breaks the end of the lining l coiled around said mandrel (see Fig. 8) There fore, during this unscrewing of -the mandrel, lining 1 remains in position in the hole, intol the walls of which its V-shaped edge has been cutting 45 during the screwing operation.

After removal of the mandrel, lining lremains in position in hole 4 as shown (see Fig. '7).

A new spike 8 is then screwed into the threads In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosed what I deem to be practical and eiicient embodiments of the present invention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto as there might oe 55 changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A method of securing a threaded spike to a wooden railway sleeper having a non-circular spike hole therein by means of a rod of malleable metal and of V-shaped channel cross-section and a threaded mandrel, comprising winding said rod onto the mandrel into a coil with the groove of the V engaging the thread of the mandrel, the outer diameter of the coil being slightly smaller than the greatest cross-sectional dimension of the sleeper hole, securing the driving end of the coil to the end of the mandrel, screwing the coil on the mandrel into a portion of the Walls of the spike hole, unscrewing the mandrel from the coil thereby detaching the mandreltherefrom, and thereafter screwing a threaded spike of a crosssection greater than said mandrel into the hole thus lined by said coil, whereby to effect a further penetration of the coil into the sleeper.

y securing the driving end of the coil to the end of the mandrel, screwing the coil on the mandrel into the flat walls yof the square hole, detaching the mandrel from the coil, unscrewing the mandrel from the coil, and screwing a threaded spike of a cross-section greater than said mandrel into the hole thus lined by said coil, whereby to effect a further penetration of the coil into the sleeper hole.

ALBERT PAUL STREIT. 

